The earth moved; did we?

If you’ve been scrolling through the news lately, you might have noticed something. It feels like nature has been making more appearances than celebrities, politicians, even the latest social media trends.

One week we’re talking about floods (since it’s been raining again) and the following week it’s an earthquake, not to mention the extreme heat before that. One after the other when communities are still trying to recover from the last disaster that hit them. Sometimes it feels like we’re barely done cleaning up before another tragedy strikes.

Why does it seem like these things are happening so often? Are we simply paying more attention because information now travels faster? I mean social media is more likely the source of today’s news more than traditional radio and TV. Are the years of environmental neglect finally catching up with us? Or is nature reminding us that there are limits to how much we can destroy without consequences? Your guess is as good as mine.

Perhaps the better question is whether we’ve become so busy chasing progress that we’ve forgotten one important fact — that we coexist with everything around us. I’m talking about all the living things — humans, animals and plants. (Yes, even the old trees we’ve been cutting down.)

We celebrate new buildings, wider roads, longer bridges, expanding cities, and technological breakthroughs, but we don’t mourn the leveling of mountains, the cutting of trees, the loss of animals’ natural habitats, the pollution of our waters.

Progress is necessary, yes, but every now and then nature will remind us that no matter how advanced we may have become, we are still living on the same planet governed by the same natural forces that have held sway over millions of years. (Don’t make me mention the dinosaurs and how they were erased by natural events.)

The recent magnitude-7.8 earthquake that struck parts of Mindanao was one of nature’s reminders. Unlike floods or pollution, earthquakes aren’t caused by human behavior — the tectonic plates naturally move whether we’re ready or not. We cannot stop an earthquake, we cannot negotiate with it.

As advanced as we are, all we can do is prepare for earthquakes. Just like the Japanese prepare for earthquakes. We have so much technology, yet nature still surprises us. Ironic, right?

For countries like the Philippines, disaster preparedness should never be treated as an afterthought or an aftermath. We consistently rank among the most disaster-prone nations in the world according to the World Risk Report.

Typhoons visit us every year, and earthquakes are part of our geography, not to mention volcanic eruptions. In many ways, resilience is not a choice for Filipinos — it is a necessity no matter how we try to romanticize it.

When the earthquake hit Mindanao, the Port of General Santos was immediately inspected. Engineers assessed the facilities, evaluated the damage, and determined which areas were safe for operations.

While repairs were quickly made, ships were redirected to another port in the meantime.

Shortly after, the Philippine Ports Authority, headed by general manager Jay Santiago, announced the resumption of port activities at Gensan Port.

Ports play a significant role in the aftermath of environmental disasters; hence, they must be structurally sound and ready to serve. Emergency equipment and relief goods need to move, essential commodities need to arrive, and must reach the affected communities as quickly as possible. In an archipelagic country like ours, these supplies travel by sea through our ports.

People rarely notice the emergency plans that were activated, the inspections that prevented accidents, and the contingency measures quietly put in place behind the scenes. Yet these are the very things that make recovery possible.

The reopening of portions of the Port of General Santos is not simply a story about infrastructure; it’s a story about the readiness of the Philippine Ports Authority leadership and the behind-the-scenes building of a structurally sound port even after disaster strikes. It is proof that while disasters may be inevitable, paralysis need not be.

As Mindanao continues to recover, perhaps there is a lesson here for all of us.

Maybe it is simply to remind us of something we already know but occasionally forget: that despite all the progress, we remain vulnerable and coexist with nature. That resilience is not built during disasters but long before they arrive.

Because the earth will continue to move, nature will continue to send us warning signs, but the question is: are we even listening?

We need to consider that lives are at risk when public service becomes secondary to corruption, vested interests, and personal interests.

I don’t want to be in a rescue boat when the time comes, but we need to do something, individually and collectively, before nature strikes again. After all, we’re all in the same boat.